Duracell's Derrick Coleman Ad

This is genius advertising.
Very inspiring too.

Blessed

This is the first of what I hope is to be a series of reflections/essays intimately connected to my experiences with Lingkod Ng Panginoon (LNP)

Last Friday's prayer meeting yielded a recurring theme: blessedness. Mcdo, the worship leader, kept repeating the mantra of how blessed we are in the group. 

The speaker himself, Sir Joel (I hope I'm right about his name), also talked about blessedness. As a member of the Holy Trinity Community (HTC), a group of Catholic couples, he shared a moment when he glanced at the array of vehicles parked outside their venue of worship. All the cars, he presumed, were owned by HTC members and he took it as an affirmation of how blessed they are.

In our Action Group (AG) fellowships, the theme crops up every time. We share and give thanks for the many blessings we've received, ranging from a new car or a new career to the hasty recovery of a loved one, reconciliation among family members, or the opportunity of having encountered LNP. 

In sum, we in the group are thankful because we have received so much. We are so blessed and it is just right to exclaim loudly and in public of how awesome our God is. 

But, if I were to over-analyze (which, embarrassingly, I often do), is this how we should measure "blessedness"? Or is there another way? 

In other words, can we do better?

Rethinking The Exam Journal

My colleague, a law school graduate, once told me the reason why he didn't pass the Bar exam during his two tries: his handwriting was horrible. 

At first, I believed it was a crutch, a lame excuse, but then I saw him write and I was convinced. His writing was barely legible even if I was a licensed pharmacist.

The thing is such instances like these certainly do not have a place in our society today. First, the Rules of Court provides this provision for those examinees who are severely lacking in dexterity:

SEC. 10. Bar examination, by questions and answers, and in writing.—Persons taking the examination shall not bring papers, books or notes into the examination rooms. The questions shall be the same for all examinees and a copy thereof, in English or Spanish, shall be given to each examinee. Examinees shall answer the questions personally without help from anyone. 

Upon verified application made by an examinee stating that his penmanship is so poor that it will be difficult to read his answers without much loss of time, the Supreme Court may allow such examinee to use a typewriter in answering the questions. Only noiseless typewriters shall be allowed to be used. (Emphasis supplied)

Second, I think it's time we use computers instead of answering on paper. Besides, I don't know any lawyer who writes his pleadings and petitions by hand. Why should law students be forced to write by hand if that's the case?

What I'm trying to say, in short, is that exam journals should be phased out in exchange for encoding our answers digitally. True, a lot of you may have issues on this related to security, integrity, sentimentality, and a host of other reasons. But we can always program software to prevent examinees from, say, accessing grammar/spelling check, cheating, or otherwise saving information from the exam to another digital media.

Ika nga, diba? "Kung gusto, may paraan. Kung ayaw, maraming dahilan."

Admittedly, my suggestion is also an excuse. But it is an excuse to do away with a skill (handwriting) that has nothing to do with one's proficiency to practice law. Hopefully, when we remove this from the equation, we can expect Bar exam results to be closer to the truth.

The Cost Of Pavement

Back in college, Dr. Macario Tiu (T-Mac), had commented on Davao City's earlier landscape during the time of the Americans. It was literally a swampy jungle.

Fast forward to today and we are experiencing freak floods. In my case, the street outside our house now features ankle-length water after just several minutes of strong rain.There are also cases in recent history where rivers overflow and jeepneys get bogged down while traversing flooded downtown roads. 

As many citizens point out, the problem has to do with the city's drainage system. Many note that the city government should build even wider and bigger canals to accommodate the increasing rainwater runoff. Some also suggest more frequent maintenance works to rid our existing drainage pipes of accumulated trash and debris.

While most blame the government, I blame instead the prevalent practice of laying down concrete over greater swaths of city land. Look around you and see that what was once a vast wetland is now a desert of buildings, asphalt roads, and parking lots.

I think the practice has something to do with a failure in assessment: we failed to assess the impact of concrete vis-a-vis our local ecology and weather. In other words, we did not put a cost to how we use concrete to cover our soil.

Selfie Song

Like everything popular, someone had to make a song about last year's word. Enjoy.